“Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was coaching the Clippers so now I’m pissed”: When Shaq dropped 61 points on his 28th birthday in a Lakers victory

Shaq saw Kareem Abdul-Jabbar coaching up the Clippers big-men and knew he had to go off, scoring a whopping 61 points. 

One of the biggest points of contention between Kobe Bryant and Shaq was the former calling O’Neal out for not putting in the amount of work he does to get better at the game of basketball. He’s called the 3x Finals MVP lazy many times over and it’s clear that he needed an external motivation factor to get him going on some nights. 

This is exactly what happened on March 6th, 2000 which just so happened to be his birthday. The overarching theme revolving around what set Shaq off that night to go for a career high 61 points is the Clippers not giving him extra tickets to bring his loved ones to the Clips home game.

Also read: “Would Stephen Curry be a factor in the playoffs? Come on Shaq!”: Klay Thompson talks up his teammate after Shaquille O’Neal and the TNT crew question his impact during the playoffs

However, as Shaq would go on to explain in an episode of ‘Open Court’, it wasn’t just the fact that he wasn’t given free tickets by the Clippers that set him off on his birthday. It was the fact that his idol, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was coaching up the Clips’ big-men on their sidelines and giving them tips on how to slow him down. 

Shaq on seeing Kareem coach up the Clippers. 

Despite having won 5 championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took up an assistant coaching job with the Clippers and was on the sidelines during this fated Clippers-Lakers game on March 6th, 2000.

Also read: “Kenny Smith is a vegetarian nobody gets food poisoning eating that broccoli and asparagus crap”: Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal roast The Jet for being absent

Shaq wasn’t looking to go off on this night as it was his birthday and he was looking to get out of the building so he could go party. However, seeing his idol, Kareem, give tips to the opposition on how to stop him led him to take over from Kobe who finished with just 22 points. 

Shaq was unstoppable, dropping 61 points and proving to Kareem and the Clips that they had absolutely no one on their team who could slow him down in the slightest.

https://youtube.com/shorts/qztQ8H7YiAE?feature=share